Japan's New 'Sayonara' Tax on Travelers Is Here

Thanks to a bevy of flight deals and new routes, it's now easier than ever to get to Japan—but it also just got slightly more expensive to leave the country once you've had your fill of Tokyo sushi, Okinawa beaches, and Kyoto temples. On Monday, the country began collecting a "sayonara" tax from visitors. The new fee of ¥1,000 ($9.23) will be tacked onto plane and ship transportation fares of all passengers when booking, regardless of nationality.

There are some exceptions: Children under the age of two won't get hit by the tax, nor will passengers who are in Japan for less than 24 hours or anyone who is forced to enter the country because of "unavoidable circumstances" (read: flight reroutes and bad weather), reports The Japan Times.

The Japanese government expects those $9 fees to add up, estimating that revenue generated by the tax will net around ¥50 billion ($461 million) by the end of 2019. The good news? They say they'll put that money right back into services for travelers, including implementing more facial recognition gates at airports and seaports for faster processing through immigration, adding information in multiple languages at cultural attractions, and developing free Wi-Fi on public transportation.

The timing makes sense: Tokyo is hosting the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics, and Japan is looking to grow its number of inbound tourists—more than 30 million travelers visited in 2018, and the government is hoping to say konnichiwa to 40 million visitors by 2020. (We've even got some reasons you should go this year.)